CHAPTER NINE
After a busy day spent prepping for tomorrow night’s appearance at Sloane’s club and discussing all the possible scenarios that could come up once they arrived, Nicole was ready to help Nathan find Angela and save at least one girl from making the biggest mistake of her life. And if she was able to get a story out of the recovery mission, all the better, to her way of thinking.
That afternoon, at her request, Nathan had driven her to Forever 21, a trendy store that catered to the fashion sense of teenage girls. She’d bought a fitted black lace tank top and a cute purple ruffled miniskirt that the salesgirl had promised her was all the rage. She’d found a pair of black strappy platform wedge shoes to complete the outfit and also purchased a sparkly black-and-silver butterfly necklace and matching earrings. The ensemble was casual, but fresh and flirty enough to give her the impression of being a teen—and attract Sloane’s attention in the process.
While they were out, the two of them stopped at an Italian restaurant for a light dinner, and once they returned to Nathan’s place, he’d announced he was heading downstairs to the fitness center to work out. She changed into her PJs, then settled on the couch in front of the windows overlooking the Strip and fired up her laptop to get some work done while he was gone.
She checked and answered her e-mail, visited her favorite blogs on the Internet, and eventually logged in to her online dating account at CupidsArrow.com to see if she had any hits. There were eleven messages awaiting her response, notes from men who were interested in contacting her based on the information she’d typed into her profile and a compatibility test she’d taken when she joined. She began checking out their profiles in turn, knowing the next step in researching her article was to set up a chat with a guy she found suitable to her tastes and personality to get to know him better.
Unfortunately, the only man she was remotely interested in was Nathan, who returned from the gym nearly two hours later. Despite being completely drenched in sweat, he looked incredibly hot and sexy in a fitted T-shirt and cotton shorts, his body all buffed from lifting weights. He disappeared into his room, closed the door, and she heard the shower turn on a few minutes later, which prompted all kinds of wicked, naughty fantasies of him completely naked and water sluicing down all those taut, sleek muscles of his.
The sharp pang of arousal arrowed through her, revving up her libido and making her ache for the kind of pleasure and satisfaction she knew Nathan was capable of giving her. Shifting restlessly on the couch, she attempted to force her mind back to her online dating quest, but she just couldn’t drum up the enthusiasm to reply to any of the messages she’d received.
Her mind was on Nathan. The hungry way he’d kissed her last night, and how he’d valiantly tried to avoid their attraction all day long. Including now, considering he’d remained secluded in his bedroom for the past hour and didn’t show any signs of joining her for the evening.
She wanted him, and she was done waiting for Nathan to make the first move. Being the kind of woman who went after what she desired with a no-holds-barred kind of attitude, she decided to take the same approach with Nathan and make him an offer he’d be hard-pressed to refuse.
Powering off her laptop, she crossed the living room to his closed bedroom door, debating only a few seconds whether to knock or just walk in without warning. Opting for the element of surprise, she opened the door, sauntered into his male domain, and found him propped up in his king-sized bed reading a best-selling hardback novel. The only thing he wore was a pair of navy boxer shorts, leaving his chest and abs gloriously bare. His hair was still damp from his recent shower and tousled around his head, making her fingers itch to run through those silky strands.
Startled by her abrupt entrance, he frowned at her and set his book on the night table before concern gradually etched his features. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m fine.” There was no sense beating around the bush about why she was there in his bedroom, and she wasn’t taking no for an answer. “I think you and I should have sex.”
Much to her amazement, the corner of his mouth hitched up in a charming smile. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying,” he drawled wryly.
She laughed. Yeah, okay, that was blunt, and she was about to get much bolder. “The way I see things, we’re attracted to each other and we already know how good we are together,” she said, slowly strolling toward the foot of his bed, watching his eyes darken with need as she moved closer. “I like sex. A lot. Especially with you. We’re two grown adults who are capable of enjoying a fling, so why not take advantage of our time together, for as long as it lasts?” It was the perfect arrangement to her way of thinking.
“Because sex with you is too much of a distraction.” A muscle in his jaw twitched, and she knew his restraint was crumbling despite his argument.
“You’ve got it all wrong. It’s more distracting if we don’t have sex.” She climbed up onto the mattress and started a slow, provocative crawl up the length of his hot, hard body, her gaze locked on his. “You’re fighting your attraction to me, and it shows in how tense you are when I’m near you. The last thing we want to do is go to the nightclub tomorrow night with you so uptight from all this sexual tension.”
Before he could reply, she lowered her head and placed a warm, damp kiss just below his navel and right above where his fierce erection tented the front of his thin shorts. He sucked in a sharp breath as her lips branded his skin, then groaned deep in his throat when she gently bit down on the firm flesh of his abdomen.
She soothed the sting with a slow, leisurely lap of her tongue, and the ragged hiss that escaped him brought a gratified smile to her lips. It also tightened the knot of need coiling low in her belly, urging her to continue her upward advance, until her knees were straddling his waist and she was sitting on his lap—a familiar position with him. The thick length of his shaft pressed against her bottom, and she splayed her hands on his flat, muscular stomach and gyrated her hips, tempting him with the erotic promise of sliding deep inside her body.
He shuddered, but he’d yet to touch her. She’d already found irrefutable proof that he wanted her, and his ability to hold back only served to present her with the kind of challenge she couldn’t resist. In fact, she looked forward to making him unravel and lose control.
There were too many clothes separating them, and she upped the stakes by removing her tank top and tossing it aside, leaving her completely naked from the waist up. The lust heating his gaze urged her on, and made her feel reckless and wild.
“Just in case you can’t tell, I’m really hot and bothered.” She rocked against the erection nestled so perfectly in the crux of her thighs and cupped her breasts in her hands, using her fingers to pluck at the stiff peaks. “So right now, there are two options for me. Taking care of things myself, which isn’t nearly as fun as the real thing, or having sex with you, which is definitely my preference.”
Smiling with seductive intent, she trailed one hand down her belly and into the waistband of her shorts, and a soft gasp fell from her lips as her fingers glided along her wet folds and found her aching clit. Shamelessly, she stroked herself, letting the pleasure build and tormenting Nathan in the process. With a low, breathy moan, she closed her eyes and let her head fall back as she arched against him, adding pressure and friction exactly where she needed it the most.
She heard him mutter a gruff curse, and knew he was close to breaking—thank God. Lashes half-mast, she looked down at him, taking in the clench of his jaw and the heavy rise and fall of his chest, and knew she almost had him.
“So, what’s it going to be, Nathan?” she asked huskily. “You’d better hurry up and decide before I take matters into my own hands and you miss out on all the fun.”
Quicker than she could anticipate, his hand shot out and he wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck, then pulled her mouth down to his. Lips touched and parted, the kiss instantly turning primal and possessive. Deep, demanding, and greedy. She reveled in the hot, arousing taste of him, the way her bare breasts crushed against his chest and how his large, warm hands skimmed down the slope of her back, then grasped her thighs and pulled her closer for a tighter fit against his groin.
Tangling his fingers in her hair, he tugged her head back, breaking their kiss so he could bury his face in the curve of her neck. “God, you’re such a tease,” he muttered, his breath hot and moist against her skin.
“Yeah, I know.” She exhaled a quivering sigh when he grazed his teeth along a patch of sensitive skin, followed by a long, maddening lick of his tongue all the way up to the shell of her ear.
“Is it really such a bad thing?” she asked. From her perspective, teasing him had gotten her exactly what she wanted. Well, almost, anyway. All she needed now was his cock stroking deep inside her body and giving her the orgasm she craved.
“You make me crazy,” he growled into her ear, sounding frustrated by the fact. “You make me so fucking hard I can’t think straight.”
His graphic words made her shiver, and she opened her eyes and smiled at him. “See, we need to do this, because I don’t want to be responsible for you not being able to think straight while we’re on this case.”
He laughed, a ragged sound filled with amusement, and she knew then she had him hooked.
“You win,” he said, and dipped his head again, this time trailing soft, damp kisses along her collarbone and down to her chest, where he nuzzled his face between her breasts.
“I usually do,” she managed breathlessly, then arched her back so she could brush her nipples against his parted lips. “Besides, you and me, and having sex while we’re together, is the perfect friends-with-benefits arrangement.”
“Mmmm.” He brought his hands up to palm both mounds of flesh, then dragged the flat of his tongue lazily along the curve of one breast, then the other, avoiding what she wanted the most.
“Is that what you’re proposing?” he murmured as he flicked his tongue across her engorged nipples—a fleeting caress that only heightened her desire.
“Absolutely,” she whispered, and squirmed shamelessly on his lap, every inch of her on fire from his slow-as-molasses seduction. Finally, just when she thought she couldn’t bear any more torment, he took her nipple into his hot, wet mouth and sucked.
Her entire body shuddered, and her breasts swelled even more as he drew on the distended tips. Oh, yes … “Just hot sex and pure pleasure between two friends, without any messy emotions to complicate things.” Pushing her fingers through his still-damp hair, she held him to her breast, fearing he’d pull away before she was ready to let him go. “It’s a dream arrangement for most guys. Are you up for it, Fox?”
“Depends.” His lips, teeth, and lascivious tongue continued to kiss, nibble, and lave her flesh as he talked. “Are you always going to want to be on top?”
The humor in his question made her grin. “It works for me.”
He dropped his hands to her thighs and smoothed them upward, until his thumbs slipped beneath her flimsy shorts and sought more intimate places. He stroked across the damp silk panel covering her mons, before adding a subtle pressure that had her hips jerking against his with the need to feel a deeper, more illicit kind of touch.
“Yeah, but there are things I want to do to you that I can’t with you sitting on my lap,” he murmured.
A wealth of erotic images tumbled through her mind, adding to the arousal he was building inside her with his mouth against her breasts, and his fingers sliding along the weeping folds of her sex. “Good stuff, I hope.”
“Yeah, really good stuff,” he promised.
Unable to resist, she pulled his head back and stared into his dark eyes. “Show me,” she dared.
A slow, wicked grin curved his lips right before he gently tumbled her onto her back. Instead of moving over her as she expected, he removed her shorts and panties, then pressed her knees wide open and settled between. She closed her eyes, feeling the brush of his hair against her skin, the rasp of stubble on his jaw, the warmth of his breath as he leisurely licked first one thigh, then the other, making her quiver with anticipation. Gradually, he kissed his way closer to where she was dying for him to touch her, where she was already slick and hot and wanting.
And then the shocking heat of his mouth was on her, so stunningly adept, so amazingly good. Her back arched as his tongue slid over the achingly sensitive point of her clitoris—stroking, suckling, each seductive caress sending a pulse of arousal spiking through her veins. He eased one long finger deep inside her, added a second, and she moaned helplessly as the tension in her belly, and lower, wound tighter and tighter toward release.
He pushed her higher, and she curled her fingers into the comforter to ground herself just as a tidal wave of an orgasm tore a strangled grasp from her throat and shook her to the core. The onslaught of pure ecstasy overwhelmed her senses, leaving her stunned and spent, yet craving so much more.
As her climax ebbed, he buried his face against her stomach, then suddenly swore in frustration, pulling her down from the hazy cloud of bliss where she’d been floating.
She couldn’t begin to imagine what was wrong, especially since she wasn’t close to being done with him. “Is everything okay?”
He lifted his head from her still-quivering belly, his eyes smoldering with raw hunger. All for her. “As badly as I want to be inside you, I don’t have any condoms with me.”
Relieved that she’d be able to ease his worry, she trailed her fingers along the taut line of his jaw and smiled. “You don’t need any. I have an IUD, so I’m protected. And healthy,” she added, just in case that was a concern.
“Me, too,” he said, then slid off the mattress to stand at the foot of the high bed.
Her first thought was that he was leaving her even though she’d just issued him a very open invitation, and a surge of confusion washed over her. “What are you doing?”
He shucked his boxer shorts, and despite having seen him naked before, her mouth went dry at the sight of just how hard and thick that virile part of his anatomy was.
She was wrong, thank God. He wasn’t going anywhere, and that incorrigible male grin, combined with the eager way he reached up to grab her hips, then dragged her down to join him, confirmed the fact. With her bottom positioned on the edge of the mattress, he hooked her knees over his arms, holding her thighs apart and giving him complete control of the situation.
Not to mention an unobstructed view of her sex, which he seemed to thoroughly appreciate and enjoy.
“You’re not the only one with a favorite position,” he said, before taking his cock in hand and rubbing the broad head along the slippery cleft between her legs.
Each brush of the smooth crest against her tender flesh stirred her desire all over again, bringing nerve endings back to life and making her impatient to feel him thrusting deep inside her. Yet he took his sweet ol’ time getting there, using nothing more than the light pressure of his shaft to tease and dip and slide—until her hips were straining toward him and she was begging him to fill her.
Looking immensely pleased with her reaction, along with the fact that she had no choice but to let him set the pace, he tightened his hold on her legs, pulled her closer, and fitted his erection snug against her slick opening. But instead of the fierce, hard thrust her body ultimately craved, he pushed into her oh-so-slowly, his hot gaze watching as her body took him inch by excruciating inch. When he was buried to the root, he closed his eyes, dropped his head back, and groaned, seemingly savoring the sensation of being clasped in her tight, silky heat.
How could he not move when she was aching for him to take her hard and fast? Needing more, she grabbed handfuls of the comforter and squirmed restlessly against him, wishing she could wrap her legs around his hips and force him to plunge deeper. “Nathan, please.”
He opened his eyes and smiled down at her, a sinful gleam in his gaze. “I’m getting there, sweetheart,” he drawled. “You’re in way too much of a rush.”
When he started to move, it was with slow, precise strokes designed to make her wild with desire—and his tactics worked like a charm. His hands slid down her thighs, still holding them apart for his viewing pleasure as he pumped leisurely inside her, the muscles across his stomach flexing with each disciplined thrust. His thumbs brushed lightly across the lips of her sex, tracing the damp folds with a teasing caress that rekindled the throb of a distant orgasm, but did nothing to assuage the growing, desperate ache within her.
Wanting to get even with him for his sensual torment, she decided to use the only ammunition she had in her arsenal—her hands, and her body. She wanted to show him just how resourceful she was, her ultimate goal to unravel that precious control of his and reap the benefits of a man who succumbed to the red haze of lust.
It became a sexy game between them. An irresistible challenge of who could arouse whom the most. And she was determined to win.
She touched her breasts, grazed her thumbs over her nipples, and moaned, feeling the tension rise within Nathan as he watched, his gaze burning with carnal hunger, his jaw clenched in denial. Biting her lower lip, she skimmed one palm downward, and when her fingers slid between their bodies to the hot, wet place where they were joined and glided over the hard nub of her clitoris, she gasped and tightened her inner muscles around him—and swore she felt him swell harder, thicker inside her.
He shuddered, but his features remained etched with determination. “Jesus, Nicole,” he groaned raggedly, and pumped into her a little bit faster, but it wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy the relentless arousal demanding release.
“Give me more,” she taunted in a soft, heated whisper, and continued to push him closer and closer to the edge of his own sanity.
Done teasing them both, she closed her eyes and circled her clit with her fingers, knowing exactly what it would take to grasp the orgasm lingering just beyond her reach. Knowing, too, that her climax would trigger his own. With each deliberate touch and caress the thrill increased, the sensation amplified, the yearning grew … and with a defeated groan Nathan finally let go and began giving her more of everything she needed. Harder strokes. Deeper penetration. Faster thrusts.
He drove into her, impaling her on his cock, over and over again, so solid, so rough, so powerful he sent her higher than she’d ever gone before. The pressure inside her became almost unbearable, then seemed to snap apart, battering her with a pleasure so intense she couldn’t hold back the shocked cry tumbling from her lips, or the rippling aftershocks that gripped him tight.
She heard Nathan curse, felt him buck uncontrollably against her—once, twice, three more violent thrusts, then the hot, scalding rush as he came.
He collapsed on top of her with a rough groan, his breathing erratic, his body slack from his own vigorous orgasm. Feeling completely content for the moment, she laughed, enjoying every moment of his defeat.
*
Nathan woke just before dawn to find his face pressed against a fragrant spill of hair and his arms full of silky, curvy woman—a great way to start the day, in his opinion. Nicole was spooned against his chest, her tempting bottom tucked against his groin, her body all soft and warm and satiated from a night of incredible sex.
Unable to help himself, he smiled and gently trailed his fingers along the indentation of her waist and felt her stir sleepily against him. This time, she hadn’t snuck out on him in the middle of the night, not even to return to her own room, and he had to admit he liked having her in his bed.
She’d proved last night just how weak he was when it came to her, that resisting her allure was next to impossible. Somehow, she’d wrapped him around her finger, coercing him into letting her be a part of his assignment and seducing him into having sex with her. Not that he was complaining about the latter, not when he already wanted her again this morning.
Would it really be such a bad thing to indulge in the friends-with-benefits proposition she’d suggested—a temporary agreement to enjoy sex with a woman he couldn’t seem to get enough of anyway? Truly, it was a win–win situation—lots of physical pleasure without the emotional involvement. Just the kind of arrangement he preferred, especially considering that their reason for being together was temporary.
Bottom line, Nicole made him feel alive, more so than he had in years. She aroused him, frustrated him, even, but there was so much about her that intrigued him and kept him coming back for more. After last night, he was done fighting what he wanted so badly. Her.
He pressed his damp lips to her bare shoulder, then slowly kissed his way up to the warm curve of her neck. Nuzzling the side of her throat, he cupped a soft breast in his hand, and her nipple instantly beaded against his palm. His cock stiffened, and despite the numerous times they’d had sex during the course of the night, he was already aching to get inside her again.
She sighed, gradually coming awake, and tried to turn around to face him, but he had something else in mind. Gently, he eased her onto her stomach, nudged her thighs apart with his knee, then settled his hips between her legs. He covered her from behind, careful about distributing his weight as he aligned their bodies and the tip of his shaft glided along her slick, feminine cleft. Finding her hands, he laced their fingers together at the side of her head.
“Mmmm,” she murmured as she instinctively lifted her bottom, seeking a deeper, more intimate contact. “Good morning.”
“Yeah, it is.” He slid into her with a sleek, heavy thrust that made them both groan in pleasure. “And it’s about to get a whole lot better,” he said, and proceeded to make good on his promise.